SAN DIEGO — The California Department of Motor Vehicles reopened 25 of its field offices Friday, including San Diego and San Marcos locations, to assist customers with appointments and "transactions that require an in-person visit to a field office."
The DMV is notorious for long wait times, and Friday was no exception with long lines wrapped around the building hours before the office opened in Hillcrest.
Visitors were able able to check wait times online and according to people News 8 spoke with, at the San Marcos DMV some were in an out within 30 minutes.
The offices will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, except on Wednesdays, when offices will open at 9 a.m.
All of the agency's field offices across the state closed March 27 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. DMV officials urged customers to use online services as much as possible.
Social-distancing measures will be in place at the reopening field offices, which were chosen based on their size, location and service capacity.
The offices will be open for people with appointments and for select transactions, including:
- paying registration for a vehicle impounded because of registration- related issues
- reinstating a suspended or revoked driver license
- applying for a reduced-fee or no-fee identification card
- processing commercial driver license transactions
- applying for a disabled person parking placard
- adding an ambulance certificate or firefighter endorsement to a driver license
- verifying a transit training document to drive a transit bus
- processing DMV Express customers for REAL ID transactions, if time and space allows
Visitors are encouraged to check ahead to know what type of wait to expect, and also to make sure they’re offering the services they need.